We are excited to have made our final edits to a new publication called The AWSP Equity Guide: The Heart Work of School Leadership. A big shout out to our team of authors: Dr. Kyle Kinoshita (UW Bothell), Dr. Christine Espeland (UW Tacoma/UW Smart Center), and AWSP Associate Directors Kamrica Ary-Turner and Gina Yonts.
The AWSP Equity Guide is really a guide of self-discovery, providing a “zero entry” pool to the deep end, and resources and learning opportunities for leaders who are intent in growing their skillset and knowledge about equity and how it intersects with our leadership practices. The AWSP pro-learning team has used the guide as a primary resource in our AWSP New Principal Mentor Training program and Implementation Sessions. The goal is to have the guide available to schools and districts by the AWSP/WASA Summer Conference, taking place June 25-27 in Spokane.
The guide highlights a glossary of commonly used words and definitions (from all state partners for consistency) and an interactive guide (think "choose your own adventure"). Both of these resources are accessed by a QR code, and hosted online so we can easily update them and keep our content and resources relevant and “future-proof."
The guide itself is broken into six distinct parts:
- Equity Basics
- Equity Leadership Dispositions
- Equity Anchors
- Creating an Awareness for Equity
- Leading Inquiry for Equity
- Taking Action for Equity
The intent of the guide is to allow individuals to have access to common vocabulary and resources, and to chart your own professional journey to uncover things you may or may not have been exposed to regarding equity. The guide takes an adult learner stance and should help provide context, learning, and opportunities to connect your learning to the AWSP Framework and the AWSP School Leader Paradigm. Each of the sections cites best practice in equity-based leadership to help guide the individual or team’s learning. YOU are doing so much…it’s a great way to acknowledge and push yourself/teams to keep furthering their leadership practices.
If you or your system are interested in learning more, please plan to join us at the WASA/AWSP Summer Conference in June to learn more and engage with our team. We are here to support your individual and team’s journey to tackle historical inequities in our system. We can do this together!